


Let Our Hands Do The Talking

by flawedamythyst



Category: Marvel
Genre: Bad Pick-Up Lines, Deaf Clint Barton, M/M, Sign Language, Trapped In Elevator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-02
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:08:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22990717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flawedamythyst/pseuds/flawedamythyst
Summary: When Bucky finds out that Clint is deaf, he thinks he's found the perfect way to put to use the language skills that Hydra drilled into him by flirting with the hot archer. Somehow, that's not how it goes at all.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton
Comments: 79
Kudos: 654
Collections: Winterhawk Bingo





	Let Our Hands Do The Talking

**Author's Note:**

> Huge love and thanks to CB and Nny for helping me sorting out the ending.
> 
> Written for my Winterhawk Bingo square of 'Stuck In an Elevator'.

“Who’s that?” asked Bucky, glancing over at the tall blond Natalia had cornered as soon as he came into the room. He’d told Steve he didn’t want a welcome party, but it turned out you couldn’t avoid that kinda thing when you joined the Avengers.

Steve glanced over. “Clint,” he said. “Hawkeye.” Natalia crossed her arms and gave the guy a glare that meant he was important to her. Bucky could remember getting that glare a lot, back in the Red Room, when they were all the other had.

Nowadays, things were so complicated that Natalia didn't seem to react to him at all. He was glad to see she had people she cared about, though.

“The archer, right?” said Bucky.

“Yeah,” said Steve. “He and Natasha are good friends.”

The guy rolled his eyes at whatever Natalia was saying and glanced around the room, giving Bucky his first good look at his face.

Huh. He was kinda cute.

“Guess I should get to know him, if we’re gonna be on a team together,” said Bucky, eyeing the guy’s shoulders. He looked like he could almost put Steve to shame, but it was clearly all muscle he’d worked for rather than used science to cheat for.

Steve snorted. “Sure, but nothing that’s gonna upset the dynamic, yeah? We do all have to fight together.”

“Sure, sure,” said Bucky, watching as Natalia grabbed Clint’s elbow and pulled his attention back to her. She said something that came with a flurry of fast gestures, half-hidden by her body.

Bucky frowned. “Is that sign language?”

“Yeah, Clint’s deaf,” said Steve. “He wears aids most of the time though, you don’t need to worry about him hearing you.”

Bucky felt a slow smile spread over his face. “Oh, I wasn’t worried.”

Hydra had programmed him with a whole bunch of languages, anything they thought might be even the slightest bit useful for him, including sign language. 

He watched as Clint rolled his eyes again, sending a short gesture that Bucky couldn't quite see at Natalia, and then turned away to head for the bar. He moved with the same grace and ease that she had, as if he knew exactly how every part of his body worked, and how to use that to the best effect.

Yeah, sign language was going to be Bucky’s way in to get to know the guy, and maybe he’d get to find out just how well that body worked himself.

****

Bucky didn’t get to talk to Clint that night because he disappeared after one beer, and then he went on a mission early the next morning, so it was a couple of weeks before Bucky saw him again. He came into the kitchen for breakfast one morning and Clint was there, slumped over a mug of coffee and looking like he’d had seven kinds of shit beaten out of him.

“You okay, man?” asked Bucky.

Clint raised his head as if it pained him. “Yeah,” he said, tiredly. “Just kind of a long one, you know?”

Bucky nodded, because he did know. “You sure you shouldn’t be in bed?”

Clint shrugged one shoulder. “Needed coffee first,” he said, which seemed like a weird order to do things to Bucky, but what did he know? “Hey, we haven’t properly met,” said Clint, looking up. “I’m Clint. Hawkeye. We’re gonna be teammates.”

Bucky nodded. “Good to meet you,” he said, and allowed himself a lingering look over Clint’s shoulders and arms, because now clearly wasn’t a good time to flirt with the guy but that didn’t mean he shouldn’t lay the groundwork.

Clint blinked at him as if not quite sure what he was seeing, and Bucky tried out a smile.

“Okay,” said Clint, draining his mug and standing up. “I very much need to be asleep now, my brain is all.” He waved a vague hand in the air.

“That seems like a good idea,” said Bucky. “Sleep well.” He raised his hands and added the sign for that as well.

Clint just stared at him for a moment, then blinked and shook his head. “Okay, going now,” he muttered. “Wake me up in a week.”

He left the room and Bucky took a moment to enjoy watching his ass in his combat pants. Yeah, okay, he was definitely going to make a play for that.

****

Clint didn’t emerge again for a couple of days, by which time he was all cleaned up and properly rested, and his bruises had faded a bit. He came into the gym while Bucky and Steve were sparring and Bucky was so distracted by the tightness of his shirt that Steve was able to pin him.

“Keep your mind on the fight, Buck,” said Steve, with the irritating little grin that meant he’d seen what had pulled Bucky’s attention away. “Not on your daydreams.”

“Fuck off, Stevie,” said Bucky and pulled what was technically an illegal move with his metal arm to roll Steve off him. He glanced over to see that Clint was on a running machine with his back to them and, yup, his shorts really were that short. Damn, who dressed him, a dirty magazine editor?

He wasn’t about to stay distracted and let Steve beat him, though. There’d be plenty of time to ogle Clint later, and talk to him as well. He turned back to Steve and readied himself to wipe the smirk off his face.

****

By the time they were done, Clint had moved on to the weights machine. Bucky took a moment to pretend he was wiping himself with a towel while watching the impressive flex of Clint’s muscles. Oh man, yeah, he was definitely going to give flirtation a try, and fuck Steve’s careful talk about team dynamics.

He left Clint to it and went to shower, then headed out to the common room to curl up on the sofa with a book. Maybe it wasn't the same as the stake outs Hydra had had him doing, but it was far more rewarding when Clint eventually turned up, his hair damp from a shower and a clean shirt on. It was just as tight as the last shirt, Bucky noted with satisfaction. 

“Hey,” Clint said, giving Bucky a vague wave when he spotted him. “Just getting coffee, not got my aids in, don’t bother trying to talk.”

This was Bucky’s chance. He set his book in his lap and raised his hands. “How about I take you out for coffee instead?” he signed. “We can get to know each other.”

Clint stared at his hands for a moment, then looked back at Bucky’s face with a scowl. “Fuck off,” he spat, then strode off into the kitchen.

Bucky dropped his hands, confused. How had that gone wrong? Was asking a guy to coffee not how you did it any more?

Did Clint not like guys? Because all the careful sounding out Bucky had done on the subject while Clint had been on his mission had made it clear that most of the Avengers thought Clint was into guys as well as girls, and fairly open to casual flings with either. That had been what Bucky had been counting on, getting to have a bit of a fling with a hot teammate as a way to get back into the game after seventy years of cold spell.

Maybe he’d just jumped in too quick. He should maybe try just talking to the guy first.

****

The next day, Steve announced that they were having a team bonding night now that the full team were in the Tower. Bucky had been wary of what that would involve, but it seemed to just be an excuse to sit around eating popcorn and watching shitty movies while being assured that they were classics. Bucky could handle that.

Clint arrived late, still fitting a bright purple hearing aid into one ear. “Sorry, sorry,” he said. “I was napping.”

“You’re an idiot,” said Natasha, moving over to make a space for him. That was kind of a shame, Bucky had been hoping Clint would go for the empty place next to him.

He tried to catch his eye, but Clint seemed to be pointedly looking away from him, focusing on the screen instead.

Okay, fine, Bucky didn’t much want an audience for this. Not when the audience included Steve and his obvious amusement, anyway.

When the movie ended, Clint got up to grab himself a drink and popcorn before the next one started, so Bucky grabbed his own empty glass and followed him into the kitchen.

“Please tell me the next one involves less cheesy one liners,” said Bucky.

Clint glanced at him with a faint frown, then shrugged a shoulder. “We’re letting Tony pick tonight, so probably not.”

Bucky made a face. “Great, looking forward to it.”

Clint gave him another careful look, then said, “If you don’t like cheesy one liners, you’re not gonna enjoy being on the comms during a mission.”

Okay, this was going a lot better than last time. “Steve allows chatter on the line?”

Clint snorted. “Steve gave up trying to stop it years ago,” he said. “Any time he complained, Tony just took it as a challenge to do a one-man monologue for the whole fight.”

“Well, I’m glad I missed that, at any rate,” said Bucky. 

“I feel like a fight needs some chatter, anyway,” said Clint. “Otherwise it’s just all kinda grim. You need some light-hearted banter to throw the horrific violence into light relief, you know?”

Bucky laughed. “Sure,” he said. “Okay, I guess it’ll make a change from Hydra, anyway. No one told any jokes there.”

“Yeah, I can imagine,” said Clint. “I’ll make sure to throw in a couple of shitty jokes just for you then, next time we’re all called out.”

Fuck, this was really going well. “I’d appreciate that,” said Bucky, grinning at him and after a hesitant moment, Clint smiled back, a mischievous smirk that curled his lips up and put a faint dimple in one of his cheeks.

Ah fuck, the guy really was hot. 

“Hurry up, fuckers!” called Tony from the other room and Clint rolled his eyes.

“C’mon, can’t keep a billionaire waiting. They’re like spoilt kids.”

“I can hear you!” yelled Tony.

Clint gave Bucky a pointed look, and Bucky couldn’t keep from grinning at him, and raising his hands to sign, “I see what you mean.”

The smile immediately fell off Clint’s face, to be replaced by an angry glare. “Seriously?” he asked, sounding furious, and swept out of the room.

Bucky just stared after him. What the hell? Things had been going so well, why the fuck had Clint lost it at that?

Damn it, he was going to have to corner the guy again, and this time ask him what the fuck was wrong. Did he only like Natalia using sign language with him? That seemed kinda stupid for a deaf guy to get upset about. Surely the more people using it the better?

He followed Clint back into the sitting room, looking over to see that Clint had his jaw tightly clenched and was staring at the screen like the studio logo it was paused on was worth looking at.

Okay, Bucky had pulled this back before, he could do it again.

****

Except Clint avoided Bucky after that. He ducked out of rooms as soon as Bucky walked in, sat as far away from him as he could at team events and acted as if he hadn't heard any time Bucky tried to talk to him.

It drove Bucky up the wall. He had only been hoping for a flirtation with the guy, he could have dealt with being put off and just gone for comradery he was working to build with the rest of the team instead. Being completely blanked, though, without even knowing why, was driving Bucky nuts.

It came to a head when he was coming back from therapy one day and saw Clint heading into the Tower ahead of him. 

"Hey, Hawkeye!" he called, speeding up to catch him.

Clint's head twitched towards him, then Clint put his head down and sped his pace up, pushing open the door and letting it shut behind him as if there was no one behind him. 

"Jesus, I just want to talk," said Bucky, grabbing the door and following after where Clint was striding across the lobby to the elevator. 

He jabbed the button and the door opened immediately. He darted inside and Bucky sped up, aiming to catch him in the elevator where he wouldn't be able to escape.

Clint reached out, jabbing a button that Bucky just knew was the Door Close one. That fucking asshole.

He sprinted for the elevator, grabbing the door in his metal hand as it started to close, holding it open as he squeezed through, then letting it shut behind him. 

Clint was glaring at him. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Me?" asked Bucky as the elevator started to rise. "You're the asshole ignoring me! I thought we were getting on."

"Sorry, can't hear you, I'm deaf," gritted out Clint, even though Bucky could see the aids in his ears.

"Fine," growled Bucky and signed instead. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Clint clenched his fists, grinding his teeth together. "You're a fucking asshole," he spat out. His eyes were fixed on the floor numbers, steadily climbing towards the Avengers apartments. 

Bucky glanced at them and, fuck, this elevator was moving way too fast. Once the doors opened, he didn't kid himself that Clint would stick around for a heartbeat, or that Bucky would get a chance to talk to him again.

Fuck, he just wanted to be a part of the team, just wanted to be friends with Steve's friends, and, okay, he'd wanted to hit on the hot archer as well, but that had been secondary. Why was Clint being such a dick about this?

"Just talk to me," he said. "Tell me what the fuck I'm doing wrong."

"Sorry, I don't speak asshole," said Clint.

The elevator was starting to slow and Bucky felt a rush of frustration burn through him. He wasn't going to lose this chance, not now he had Clint cornered. He slammed his fist into the emergency stop button. 

Okay, maybe he shouldn't have used his metal fist. The metal panel gave way beneath it, electronics sparking as wires pulled loose and small metal parts went flying.

The elevator lurched to a stop and a red light turned on. "Emergency stop initiated," said FRIDAY. 

"What the fuck?!" asked Clint. "What is _wrong_ with you? FRIDAY, ignore the emergency stop, get us to the Avengers floor."

"I'm afraid I can't operate the elevator at the moment," said FRIDAY. "It's inoperable due to damage to the controls. I'm alerting the relevant services, please be patient."

Clint let out a groan. "Fucking great. You asshole," he glared at Bucky.

Bucky winced, looking at the shattered remains of the control panel. "Sorry," he said, because that had been a bit much. "I'm just finding your attitude really frustrating."

"You're finding my attitude frustrating?" asked Clint. "I'm not the one mocking a disabled guy."

Bucky gaped at him. "What the fuck? Neither am I!"

"Oh no, of course not," said Clint. "There's just all this bullshit." He waved his hands in the air in front of him. "Mocking sign language is mocking deaf people and I don't fucking care how long ago you grew up, or what fucked up shit has happened to you since then, you should fucking know better."

Bucky just stared. "I'm not…" he said weakly, trying to work out what was happening. "It's not mocking to use sign, I just thought you'd find it easier."

"That's not fucking ASL, asshole!" said Clint. "FRIDAY, how long until we're out of here?"

"We're not sure yet," said FRIDAY. "Please be patient."

Bucky looked down at his hands. "It's not…?" he repeated. "Wait, what?"

“ASL isn’t just waving your hands around,” said Clint bitterly.

Bucky stared at him. He could remember using sign language to talk to one of his handlers on a mission, and standing on a rooftop watching two people walk down the road using it, and knowing they were talking about their cousin’s terrible wedding choices. He definitely knew sign language. “ASL?” he asked, hopelessly.

Clint rolled his eyes. “American Sign Language,” he clarified. “And if you didn’t even know that, you sure as fuck haven’t been using it, so you can stop this fucking game of pretending you weren’t mocking me.”

Bucky frowned. “American?” he repeated. “Isn’t there one global sign language then?”

“No,” said Clint. “There’s hundreds, most countries have their own.”

“Oh,” said Bucky softly, thinking back to the Russian handlers who had drilled all those languages into his brain, and the heavy emphasis on the Slavic ones. “Hydra taught me,” he said. “Is there a Russian one?”

Clint stared at him, all the anger falling off his face. “Uh, yeah,” he said. “I think Nat knows some of it, but I’ve never bothered learning. I think it’s completely different to ASL.”

“Ah,” said Bucky, “okay. I’m sorry you thought I was mocking you,”

Clint frowned at him for a moment longer, then shrugged a shoulder. “I’m sorry too. Maybe I shoulda tried talking to you about it rather than just getting pissed, we could have fixed this a while ago.”

“Nah, this is on me,” said Bucky. “Shoulda known that nothing I got from Hydra would actually help me out.” He sighed and slid down the wall to sit on the floor. “It figures that I’d fuck this up,” he said tiredly, because this kind of shit just seemed to be how his life went. “First try at it in seventy years, of course it all went to shit. I’m sorry.”

Clint sat down as well, stretching his legs out. Man, those just about went on forever, and now it seemed really unlikely Bucky was ever going to feel them wrapped around him. “Try at what?” asked Clint.

Bucky shrugged miserably. “You know, flirting with a guy.”

“Flirting?” repeated Clint, sounding gobsmacked. Bucky just shrugged helplessly at him, then pulled his gaze away from the surprise on Clint’s face in favour of staring at the floor of the elevator.

He’d been trying for too much, maybe. Shouldn’t it be enough that he’d got away from Hydra, that he had Steve back, and a team of other guys to be friends with? He lived in a billionaire’s penthouse, for heaven’s sake, why was he asking for more? He didn’t deserve half of what he had, not after everything he’d done.

Clint was silent for a few minutes, just watching Bucky with an evaluating look. Bucky wrapped his arms around his chest and hunched over, waiting for the elevator to start working again so that he could escape to his room and the horrible awkwardness of this moment.

Clint nudged his foot against Bucky’s leg until Bucky looked up. “This is how to say ‘come here often?’ in ASL,” he said, moving his hands slowly in front of him. It looked completely different to the sign language Bucky had been taught, and he could see how Clint had thought he was being mocked when it was just nonsense arm movements.

Clint nudged Bucky’s leg again. “C’mon,” he said, and signed it again.

This time, Bucky carefully repeated his movements and Clint beamed back at him. “I’d come here more often if I’d known the scenery was so good,” he said, and winked at Bucky.

Bucky just stared for a moment, then he could feel a smile take over his face. Oh man, he was getting this chance after all. “How do I say, ‘Is it hot in here? Or is it just you?’”

Clint laughed, and it sounded like something Bucky would want to hear every day. “Like this,” he said, showing Bucky. Bucky carefully copied his motions, then added in a sleazy leer to go with it.

Clint grinned at him. “Okay, I wasn’t expecting the old guy to have game,” he said. “Steve never does.”

“Of course he doesn’t,” said Bucky. “I tried to teach that kid all I knew, and it just bounced right off.” He eyed Clint’s body for a moment. “Like a nickel off your ass, doll.”

“You know it, baby,” said Clint, and then moved, crawling over to kneel next to Bucky. “So, uh, where did you see flirting with me ending?”

This close, Bucky was very aware of just how blue Clint’s eyes were, of the line of his jaw and the golden glint of stubble that begged to be touched, the solid lines of his muscles and the way that he somehow managed to make Bucky feel small, despite all his own muscle and metal arm.

“Well, I’ve been having trouble sleeping by myself, can you sleep with me?” he said, still on some sort of cheesy pick up lines autopilot.

Clint laughed. “Yeah, I think I can manage that,” he said, then leaned in close to Bucky, putting his hand on his shoulder. “It must be fall, because Winter is going to be coming soon,” he said in a sleazy tone that Bucky probably shouldn’t find a turn on. Clint kissed Bucky while he was still reeling from how bad that line had been.

About twenty minutes later, when the hatch in the top of the elevator was wrenched open, they were both shirtless and Bucky was pretty sure they were only minutes away from their pants coming off. “Okay, guys, time to get you out of there,” announced Steve as he stuck his head through. “Oh Jesus! Warn a guy!”

Clint pulled away from the hickey he was sucking into Bucky’s shoulder and started laughing, and Bucky couldn’t help joining in, turning to look up at Steve’s distraught face. “You wanna maybe give us a few minutes, Stevie?” he asked. “I’m kinda busy here.”

Clitn sniggered. “Getting’ busy,” he muttered, then pressed his hips up against Bucky’s. “Thinks we’re gonna need more than a few minutes though. I’ve got plans.”

“Oh god,” muttered Steve, and his head disappeared. “No, I think we’re just gonna leave them there for a few more hours,” Bucky heard him call to someone further up the elevator shaft. “Seems like they need some alone time.”

Clint stroked his hand down Bucky’s spine and pressed at the small of his back, and Bucky glanced back at him.

“Bed would be more comfortable,” Clint pointed out. “Plus, I’ve got lube in my room.”

Bucky considered that for a second, pictured Clint naked and sprawled out over bedsheets, all the long stretch of his tanned skin available for Bucky to touch and kiss. “Excellent point,” he said, and leaned in to kiss him again.

“Hey, Steve, change of plans,” he said, pulling away from Clint with no small amount of regret. “We’re coming up.”

Clint started sniggering as he stood up. “And then we’re coming elsewhere,” he said, and Bucky joined in with his laughter, feeling buoyant and glee-filled in a way he couldn’t remember having much experience with.

“Oh god,” said Steve, looking back down at them. “I shoulda known introducing you two would be a mistake.”

He did reach down to help pull them out of the elevator though, onto the top of the car where there was a rope ladder hanging down the length of the elevator shaft. Up above, Bucky could see Sam’s face frowning down at them from where they’d wedged a set of doors open.

“Wow,” said Clint, glancing up at the ladder. “How badly did Bucky fuck up the elevator if we’re resorting to this?”

Steve shrugged. “Tony’s still in Japan,” he said, “and turns out the elevator to the Avengers floors has all kindsa security protocols that mean anyone else trying to fiddle with it just ends up locking it down further.”

Bucky nudged Clint with his shoulder. “You gonna go first?” he asked. “I wanna ogle your ass on the way up.”

Stev groaned again. “Thanks for ensuring I’ll be going up last,” he said.

“Very wise,” said Clint seriously. “That way you can ogle both of us at once.”

Steve shook his head. “Fuck this,” he muttered. “You guys can sort yourselves out from here, consider yourselves rescued.” He grabbed for the ladder and started climbing up it.

“Hate to see you leave, Cap,” said Clint cheerily.

“But love to watch you go,” finished Bucky, not looking at Steve at all, because he was too busy grinning back at Clint’s smile. Yeah, this was going to work out just fine.


End file.
